America Give Up - Howler
Metascore
68 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
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  1. The Fly (UK)
    Feb 10, 2012
    80
    America Give Up proves them to be far more exciting than a mere second generation rip-off.
  2. New Musical Express (NME)
    Jan 18, 2012
    80
    America Give Up is, quite simply, an effortlessly brilliant debut.
  3. The Guardian
    Jan 12, 2012
    80
    Howler have enough good [songs] to remind you of how good the Strokes used to be, rather than make you think how much better the Strokes are than this.
  4. musicOMH.com
    Jan 12, 2012
    80
    Howler, when at their best, produce simple, but infectious, dirty rock music that oozes confidence and a nonchalant swagger.
  5. Q Magazine
    Jan 10, 2012
    80
    Irresistible. [Feb. 2012 p. 107]
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  6. The A.V. Club
    Jan 17, 2012
    75
    America Give Up is about woo-oo-oo choruses and fuzz-laden, spiky guitar chords, and there's nothing wrong with that.
  7. Delusions of Adequacy
    May 23, 2012
    70
    America Give Up is a fantastically-promising debut album full of charm and potential. So, until the Strokes release their next masterpiece or pack it in altogether, enjoy this bunch of upbeat, tousle-haired tunes.
  8. PopMatters
    Jan 27, 2012
    70
    America Give Up comes out swingin' from the first bell and barely lets up.
  9. BBC Music
    Jan 10, 2012
    70
    An album of thoroughly contagious, albeit fairly derivative, Strokes-flavoured gutter-rock.
  10. Under The Radar
    Mar 21, 2012
    60
    This is mainly just sunny, disintegrated, low-stakes rock music. [Mar 2012, p.84]
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  11. Pitchfork
    Jan 26, 2012
    60
    America Give Up is inconsistent and derivative yet promising, and not nearly as impressive as some early adopters would have people believe.
  12. No Ripcord
    Jan 18, 2012
    60
    A "more accessible, less-noisy Jesus and Mary Chain".
  13. All Music Guide
    Jan 17, 2012
    60
    It's a debut with potential, especially if Howler find their own identity as completely as they borrowed others'.
  14. The Observer (UK)
    Jan 17, 2012
    60
    A seductive reiteration of the precepts of attitudinal guitar pop. Or you could put it another way – it's derivative, audaciously so, but fun none the less.
  15. NOW Magazine
    Jan 12, 2012
    60
    This is an endearing and eminently likeable listen.
  16. Uncut
    Jan 13, 2012
    40
    The content is often too light and derivative to suggest they really are saviors in waiting. [Feb 2012, p.89]
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  17. Drowned In Sound
    Jan 11, 2012
    40
    Catchy, bratty and phenomenally uninspiring, America Give Up is not so much shouting from the rooftops as howling at the moon.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. MusiclyMade
    4
    uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hb,hg hhhhhh hkbkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkdd… Full Review »
  2. Steech
    7
    Howler is a group of impossibly young people from Minneapolis who blur the line between guitar rock and guitar pop. Perhaps that impossible youth is a barrier against sounding like those other Minneapolis bands that - once upon a time - also blurred the line between guitar rock and guitar pop. Howler sounds absolutely nothing like Hüsker Dü or The Replacements. Instead, they bear more than a glancing resemblance to a band from a later epoch, The Strokes. But where The Strokes were jangly and focused on 60s rock, Howler is fuzzy and based on 80s rock. America Give Up is destined to show up on a lot of "best of 2012" lists. More importantly than that, though, America Give Up seems like an album we will still be listening to five or ten or fifteen years from now. Howler shares some of the same callow characteristics of other fuzzy pop bands. Unlike Best Coast's Crazy For You (not to pick on Best Coast - I happen to like that record very much), America Give Up has more than naivete for appeal. It's a very good album by many measures and the band seems like it will grow.… Full Review »
  3. Binki
    9
    "America Give Up" is not perfect but for a debut album it's really great ! My favorites tracks are "Beach Sluts" and "Black Lagoon". They're also really good live ! A band to keep an eye on !… Full Review »
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